


Laetitia's Blessing

by ClosetTherapist



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Magic, Memory Loss, Multi, Tangled inspired AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-03-20 06:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3640551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClosetTherapist/pseuds/ClosetTherapist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean had always been told that if he ever left his tower women everywhere would fall for him. Having no trouble believing this, he stayed locked up in order to avoid causing riots with his appearance.<br/>Ymir had always been told she would never amount to anything in her life and her dreams were worthless. Never believing this for a moment, she left her home in search of the one thing she wanted most: a princess to marry. </p><p>(This started out as a Tangled AU and I don’t know what happened)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Placing bets

I always knew a day like this would come. Everything in my life always pointed to the day that a woman would come in search of Jean Kirstein and his legendary good looks. Of course, that isn’t to say I made it easy for them. This brave maiden who had traveled miles and miles from the next kingdom, unraveled the puzzles and clues to lead her here and scaled my 600 foot tower must indeed be dedicated. I had imagined this day for as long as I can remember.

I knew exactly how it would go. The beautiful woman would approach my tower. She would call out to me. She would say, “I heard tales of how beautiful you were, but they could do you no justice. Please marry me.”

And of course I would turn her down because a gorgeous guy like me can’t go falling for the first girl to make a life-threatening journey to track him down.

You can imagine then, how I was a bit thrown off my game by the woman in trousers who hauled herself through my tower window, banged her head on the overhang, and started to shout curses as she hung over the windowsill.

“Holy mother of Fortuna, that hurts like a fucking bitch!” The woman managed to roll over the sill and onto the tower floor, grasping at her wounded forehead.

Admittedly, I hadn’t planned for this exact situation, and my prepared lines were not going to help me here. I’d have to think on the fly.

“Umm...” was all I managed. Shit.

“How the fuck is that practical?” She had rolled to her feet and was glaring at me now. “You have a 500-foot-tall tower without doors, without a ladder, and without any magical fucking elevator, and the window isn’t even big enough to fit a single human being through without bodily fucking injury.”

“It’s, uh, 600 feet actually,” I replied helpfully, not sure what else to say, “And it’s not exactly made to be easily accessible. See, I’m-”

“I’ll tell you what you are,” She actually pointed an accusing finger at me. “You’re a man and this is bullshit.”

I looked down at her accusatory finger that was hovering a few inches in front of my chest. Of course I was a man. Didn’t she already know that if... Oh.

“You didn’t come here looking for me?” I asked her, genuinely distraught that I wasn’t going to be able to use any of my pre-rehearsed lines on her.

“Hell no!” She looked as if I had mortally offended her, dropping her accusing hand to rest on her hip. “I’m looking for a beautiful princess, not some scrawny, tawny, half-baked boy!”

“But you’re a woman!”

Her expression snapped as her eyebrows lowered and took a menacing step closer. “I realize you’ve probably been in this tower since the motherfucking dark ages so I _might_ not beat your ass into the ground.” I took a step back. “But if you think I can’t get it on with a princess just because I’m a woman-”

I raised my hands quickly in my defense, “No, no! I didn’t mean that!” I rushed to find the words, “I just meant... don’t you wanna marry me?”

The ridiculous burst of laughter this woman let forth was both incredibly loud from where we were standing and terribly insulting. I frowned at her, both confused and perturbed, and she looked down at me, apparently realizing for the first time that I was completely serious.

“Hon, I wouldn’t marry you if Juno herself came down and told me it was destiny.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. Obviously this girl was partially blind. Or maybe just incompetent.

Trying to save my wounded pride I plopped down on my bed, attempting to look relieved. “Well then, I guess I’m lucky you were the one who stumbled in here. I really wasn’t ready for marriage anyway. Honestly, it’s kind of a burden having so many women want me.”

The woman plopped her bag down on the floor as she raised an eyebrow at me and took a seat by the small table next to my bed.

“Do you get a lot of marriage proposals?” She sounded like she might start laughing again.

I shook my head, “Not as yet. But that’s because it’s too difficult of a journey for most women. I’ve had to turn down a few brave adventurers though.” I hadn’t, but she had already hurt my pride enough that I wasn’t above lying just a little. Besides, it would have been true if more women could make the journey. After all, I was the most attractive man alive. That’s why I was here.

“Right,” She didn’t sound convinced. “Well I don’t suppose you know where I could find a princess, do you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t get a lot of news around here,” I admitted, “Like, any news actually.”

“That’s just perfect.” The woman leaned back in the chair until two of the legs lifted off the floor. “Now I’m going to have to go all the way back to Sina just to catch news on another tower.” She rocked back on the legs of the chair for a moment before leaning forward again and turning to look at me. “You’re not a princess.” she said as if she’d just figured it out.

I blinked at her in confusion, “Well yeah, I thought we already covered that.”

“No, I know that.” she said, “But if you’re not a princess, why are you here?”

Oh, that made sense. Of course she didn’t know. “Well see, it’s cuz of how I look.”

She raised her eyebrows again. They didn’t seem to want to stay in one spot for long. I wondered if they might be enchanted to jump around like that.

“See, if I lived in one of the kingdoms then all the girls would fall in love with me.” She was staring at me again with what appeared to be a mix of ‘are you stupid?’ and ‘this is the best joke I’ve ever heard.’ “I stay here so I don’t start riots, you know?” She was still staring. “Because all the girls would wanna marry me.” Still staring. “Because I’m so attractive.” I trailed off.

“Who the hell told you that?” She finally said, not laughing but just barely snorting.

I huffed, about to tell her but then... “Well, um.” I paused, then bent down to dig something out beneath the bed. “It’s all in here, see?” I pulled out the leather book that I kept hidden there for safe keeping. I never, ever wanted to lose it. It was everything I knew about myself and about the world.

The woman took the book from my hand and flipped it open to the first page. “Jean. That’s your name?” she asked, reading from the page. She said it with a hard J though.

“It’s _Jean_ actually.” I replied, keeping a careful eye on how she was holding the book and turning the pages. “But yeah.”

She looked up at me, “That’s not how that name is pronounced.”

I was positive my face was turning red but I squared my shoulders and pushed down the excuses of ‘how the hell was I supposed to know that, no one told me’ and instead told her, with all the confidence I could muster, “It’s my name, I think I know how it’s pronounced.”

“Whatever you say kid,” She turned back to the book. “For the record, I’m Ymir.”

It took me a second to realize she meant that to be her name. After another second, I was mentally berating myself for not introducing myself sooner. I’m supposed to be good with girls, and I forgot to even ask her name. It finally occurred to me that I might not be as good at social interaction as I thought I would be. I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to say next when she spoke again.

“So you’re telling me,” she started and I looked up again to meet her eyes. “That you’ve been in this tower all this time because some dusty old book told you that you were hot?”

My shoulders started moving on their own again, squaring defensively to give her a retort, but my brain didn’t find the words in time.

“You really are stupid.” Ymir started flipping through the book quicker, too quickly. I reached forward to grab it from her hands but she scooted backward in her chair. She snapped the book closed too violently and looked at me. “I really can’t stand people like you.” She spit out as she finally tossed the book back to me.

I caught it just before is smacked into my chest and instinctively started running my hand across the old and cracking cover, looking for new damage.

“It’s not like I invited you,” I said, a little angry and a little hurt. Who was she to come in here and tell me that everything I knew was wrong and stupid? “Go away if you don’t like me.”

She looked at me for a long moment before leaning forward and propping her hands on her knees.

“I just don’t get it, you know?” I didn’t meet her eyes. I told her to go away but she was still here. Why was she still here? “So someone takes you away from your former life, away from all your dreams and your ambitions, and tells you all the answers are in this book, yeah?” I opened my mouth but she kept going. “And you decide that since it’s written down it must be true and there’s no point in trying to live a life that’s worth something.”

“That’s not-”

“So what, you just drop everything? How long have you even been here?” I could still feel her sharp eyes watching me. “Don’t you have anything you want to do outside of this tower?”

I shifted uncomfortably beneath her stare. Did she ever stop staring?

“I don’t know.” was all I managed.

“You don’t know.” Ymir leaned back again, leaning against the table, and then, “Wait, about which question?”

“All of em.” My eyes traced the familiar patterns of the leather cover.

“You don’t know how long you’ve been here?”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” I was feeling defensive again. Why did she keep asking questions? I thought girls were supposed to be nicer than this.

She contemplated that for a minute. “So how did you get here?”

I shrugged but she still waited for an answer. “I mean, I’ve been here at least three years. That’s when I started counting anyway. She nodded, still waiting. “I was probably here for a few months before that. Maybe longer.” Why were words so much harder than I thought they would be? “Before that, I don’t remember.”

“So what, you just woke up here with no memory?” Ymir asked and I nodded. “So everything you know about yourself is from this book?” I nodded again. “Have you ever tried to leave?” I finally looked at her with confusion plainly displayed on my face. “You know you could, right?”

But the book said not to, I didn’t say.

She continued, “Especially since all that ‘blessed with beauty by Venus’ stuff is obvious bullshit.” My hands gripped the book protectively when she said ‘bullshit.’

“Listen,” I told her, “Just because you have terrible taste in men doesn’t mean the book is lying.”

She looked me up and down, as if trying to find any part of me that could have been even sneezed on by the goddess of beauty, before her eyes settled back on mine. “Ok, I’ll make you a bet then.”

“A bet?”

“Come with me.” she said. “If you can win over a princess before I do, I’ll believe in your stupid book.”

It’s not stupid, I didn’t say.

“If you lose, then you have to admit that your book is utter bullshit.” she continued. I opened my mouth but she interrupted again. “And if that happens, you have to go do something with your life that you decide for yourself.”

She was watching me, waiting for my answer. It was a ridiculous bet. She wanted me to break the rules of the book in order to prove they were there for a reason. Even I knew that didn’t make sense.

But more than anything I wanted to prove that the book was right.

“Ok.” I finally said, “I’ll take your bet.”

Ymir grinned widely and stood up.

“What are you waiting for?” She had already grabbed her bag of the ground and slung it over her shoulder. “Let’s get going, Jean.”

She said my name wrong again.


	2. To Win a Princess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dropping a lot of references in this chapter to classic fairytales, canon characters, and future events so I'm hoping it all makes sense to y'all! It's over twice the length of chapter one so I hope it's a good read. Feel free to let me know what you think either way!  
> Enjoy! :)

I quickly decided that Ymir was not the type of person to learn from her mistakes when she swung her legs out the tower window and clocked her forehead on the overhang for a second time. 

“Are you ok?” I called after her as she managed to grab the window edge to keep from slipping forward into a very long fall. 

“Just peachy.” she grumbled at me as she eased herself out the window and twisted around to begin her descent. “You coming?”

I had just finished throwing whatever I thought might be necessities into a small bag and was sweeping my eyes across the small tower room, looking for anything I might have forgotten. Honestly, having no memory of ever traveling before, I wasn’t entirely sure what to bring but I had managed to decide on a change of clothes, a few light snacks, and an old waterskin that _probably_ didn’t have any holes in it.

Ymir poked her head back up over the windowsill and gave me her trademark stare.

“I’m coming!” 

As a last addition to my bag, I tucked the book into the folds of my spare shirt and shoved it toward the bottom. Finally satisfied that I was prepared for the journey ahead, I swung my bag onto my back and headed for the window. 

Ymir had disappeared below the window’s view again and I peeked down to find that she was making her way down the ivy that grew around the whole structure. 

I suddenly wasn’t so sure about this bet. 

“That doesn’t look safe,” I called down to her, hoping she might have a backup plan handy. I wasn’t very excited about plan A.

She stopped and craned her neck to look up at me. “Are you for real?” 

“I don’t exactly have experience in vine climbing.” I honestly wasn’t sure she did either, and my suspicions that she was actually insane were growing. 

“Ok, the way I see it,” She started moving toward the ground again, only glancing down momentarily to look at her footing before looking back to me, “There’s a good chance that one of these vines will snap, I’ll fall 500 feet and my shattering spine will kill me instantly.”

“600.” 

“But the point is,” She didn’t listen to my correction. “If you don’t risk a painful and stupid death,” Her foot slipped and she glanced back down in annoyance, “Then you’re going to end up dying alone in this tower.” 

I wasn’t entirely certain that wasn’t the better option at this point.

“So, the best thing for you to do is back your ass out of that window before I come back up and throw you down myself.” 

She didn’t sound like she was bluffing and I really didn’t want to find out. Turning to slide backwards and feet-first out the window, I gripped the wood frame for dear life as I searched for footing in the mass of vines. Once my feet settled into a nest of vines that seemed thick enough to support my minimal weight, I ducked my head out the window and eased my full weight onto the vines. 

“See, that wasn’t so hard!” Ymir called up to me from where she was hanging halfway down the tower side. 

I shifted my weight to look down at her and just as I caught sight of her giving me her over-expressive grin, there was a soft _snap_ under my right foot that shifted me downward a good six inches. I turned back toward the tower wall and frantically adjusted my hands to get a better grip on the window frame as my hands slid down the wood. Another _snap snap_ sounded from under my opposite foot and suddenly I was tipping sideways and my right hand lost grip on the smooth wood entirely. My grip on the left side of the windowsill was slipping downwards as I tried to reach out with my free hand for anything that would support me. My right foot, entirely trapped in vines far out to the side was completely stuck. I tried to twist it free to give myself some sort of mobility but, as the vines around it started to snap, I realized I may have made a mistake. My foot slipped free and I found myself dangling by nothing but my sweaty left hand gripping the window frame for a few seconds before even that gave way and I found myself falling backwards. 

As I was falling I realized the tower roof was a beautiful light blue. I had never noticed before, but it was a comforting shade. Almost familiar.

I didn’t feel myself hit the ground. I was too preoccupied with the burst of gold light that filled the edges of my vision and shocked me back into realization. Slowly, I became aware that I could feel the grass beneath my back and realized there was no pain. Blinking twice, my eyes started to focus back on the reality around me and I saw Ymir looking down at me from her perch on the wall. 

“Aw shit, I killed the stupid guy!”

I was pretty sure I wasn’t dead but I was also pretty sure my voice wouldn’t carry far enough to reach her so I just turned my head to the side, trying to clear the golden sparks out of my vision. As my ear pressed into the grass, I heard a low murmur coming from the ground. 

“You should be more careful, Jean.”

The voice was soft and it sounded almost like a child. Somehow it was deeper though. Darker. If I hadn’t just survived a 600 foot fall, I might have been surprised. As it was, I only turned my head back to face the sky just as Ymir was hopping off the wall and jogging over towards me. Even though I wasn’t in any pain, forcing myself to sit up was harder than I expected because of a sudden stiffness in my joints that caused a tingling up and down my limbs. 

“Proserpina be damned.” Ymir breathed as she looked down at me. “You’ve got one hell of a stiff spine.”

Somehow that was the funniest thing I could ever remember hearing.

“I guess there...” My head was still clearing, “I think there was some sort of enchantment.”

It was Ymir’s turn to laugh. “Thank Fortuna, they gave you an idiot-proof tower.”

I stood up carefully, fully aware of how the numbness concentrated in my hands and feet was throwing me off balance, and spotted my bag a few feet away. It was sitting upright in the grass as if someone had taken it off my back and placed it there for safekeeping. I stumbled over to it and dug through my belongings till I found the book. Pulling it out and turning it over, I inspected it for the damage that the fall should have caused. When I finally determined that whatever strange magic had protected my life had also saved my book, I slipped it back into my bag and stood up. 

“Ready to get going?” she actually asked me this time. It was possible she was feeling a little bad for causing me to fall to what should have been a very early death. 

I nodded and she started her stride away from the tower, and towards a narrow path that cut in between the rocks nearby. 

I picked up my bag and starting jogging after her. “So where exactly are w-” I was cut off as I slammed into something in front of me and the same golden sparks exploding across my frame of view. 

Ymir turned back to look at me and her eyes grew just a fraction wider as the golden swirls moved outward from where I had stopped and continued upward and across the whole valley, in an arc surrounding the tower. 

“Sweet virgin Vesta.” Ymir breathed as she watched the golden light move up along the giant invisible wall. 

“I...” I was watching the lights, too, as I reached up to rub my nose where it had smacked into the barrier. “I think there’s another enchantment.”

“No fucking shit.” She didn’t stop watching the magical residue till it had looped all the way around and extinguished.

I reached forward experimentally till I felt the warm hum of the magic that was grounded there. Pressing both palms against the enchantment, I moved them experimentally along the invisible wall. The golden light that spread out from the impact was softer this time and only spread a few feet in either direction. As I pressed harder the light began to grow brighter and move faster as if I was squeezing magic out of an invisible pouch. Shifting forward so I could lean my full weight into my hands, I pushed as hard as I could. Explosions of gold started swirling around my hands vibrantly and violently until all at once every swirling color froze and the light shattered into a million pieces in front of me. 

I stumbled forward across the ground where the enchantment had just been and tried to blink the golden sparks out of my vision. 

“That... was a really fragile spell.” Ymir spoke up and her voice didn’t sound nearly as carefree as it had moments before, “Jean, has that always been there?” 

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ve never been out here.” 

Ymir eyes moved over my shoulder toward the tower we had just left behind, giving it a wary look with seriousness I hadn’t known she was capable of. “We should get out of here.”

Even while I nodded in response, I didn’t know where her urgency was coming from and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. I took off after her when she started walking and even though I was sure she was shorter than me, I almost had to jog to keep up with her long strides. 

“Ymir.” I called forward to her but she didn’t stop or turn around. “Ymir!” 

She still didn’t stop but she slowed just enough for me to run up alongside her. Her face was set into a serious expression and she didn’t even spare me a glance. 

“Ymir, what’s up with you?” She was seriously starting to wig me out. It was just an enchantment, right? She hadn’t been bothered by the one that kept me from becoming a Kirstein pancake in the grass so why...

“That enchantment,” We had reached the path between the rocks and she hopped over some of the smaller stones to give herself better footing on the higher ground. “An enchantment that big, that complex? It doesn’t break because a twig like you pushes on it.”

I hadn’t really considered that, but she was making sense. “Maybe it was just old.” I suggested. “I think that happens, right? Maybe the wizard who cast it-”

“That kind of magic isn’t even wizard class.” Ymir said, “That kind of spell can only come from a magical being.” I gave her a confused look. “Not human.” Oh. 

“So what-” 

“If a spell cast by a magical being broke from age,” she spoke the words carefully. “It had to have been cast more than a millennium ago.”

I let that sink in for a moment. A thousand years, but that would mean... 

“That’s impossible.” I told her, then hesitated, “Isn’t it?”

“No.” She finally looked at me. “Not impossible, in fact it’s the explanation I’m hoping for.”

I didn’t ask her what the other explanations could be. “But that would mean...”

“How old are you Jean?”

I froze and Ymir stopped to watch me as I fumbled for an answer. 

“I... I don’t know.”

Ymir nodded as if she had been expecting that. “Let’s just get out of here, ok?” 

It was my turn to nod. Suddenly, the bad vibe she had been sensing from this place was catching up with me. This small valley was the only place I could remember but now the feeling creeping down my spine told me it was the one place I didn’t want to be. 

We both quickened our paces until we were through the rocks and into the small forest on the other side. The trees were short and sparse so that the sunlight filtered through easily, and we made our way down a dirt trail that had grass and flowers growing across it, only separated from the forest floor by the few patches of bare dirt scattered throughout. 

We walked in silence for long enough that my brain started to drift away from thoughts of enchantments and towers and I started to think about where we were going. I still hadn’t officially asked Ymir about our destination, but the stiff expression on her face was finally starting to relax and I was hesitant to interrupt the quietness of the forest. 

If we were going to find a princess, I guessed we were headed to Sina, wherever that was. Ymir had said that was where the news was and I didn’t figure we would be able to track down many royal bachelorettes without a little help. I had never really thought about how the princess-marrying process worked. It seemed like most royal marriages would happen by political design, rather than by dangerous journey and romantic wooing. Maybe that’s why Ymir was still single. Or maybe she just hadn’t been looking for very long. 

The realization that I knew absolutely nothing about the person I had just left home with on no more than a bet was slowly dawning on me. She seemed like a good enough person, but I didn’t have much memory of any life experience that would help me be a good judge of character. 

“Hey Ymir?” I finally asked. 

Her gaze swiveled toward me. “You talk a lot kid.” 

I didn’t mention that we’d been walking in silence for almost an hour, and that she had done way more talking than me at the tower. Instead I just said, “How does someone even find a single princess?”

“Oh,” Her face eased up a bit, as if this was a topic she was comfortable with. “Well generally it’s just bits and pieces from gossip. People always want to share a good princess story. The problem is it’s unreliable. You never know what you’re going to find in some tower that some traveller saw when they were jacked up on mushrooms that they probably shouldn’t have eaten.” She gestured to all of me, probably implying I was the product of a someone’s mushroom-high fantasy. “I’ll tell you though, you’re not even the weirdest thing I’ve ever found on this gig.” 

“What was the weirdest thing?” I asked, hoping I wouldn’t regret it. 

“Well the first princess I ever found was dead when I got there. Gorgeous, but very dead.” she started and I looked at her, appalled. “I guess they were having a funeral when I got there or something, had her all dressed up and in a glass coffin.”

“They?” I asked. 

She waved her hand dismissively, “Her friends I guess. A bunch of little guys. I tried to pay my respects and get the hell out of there because obviously she was a little dated for my tastes. I said something to one of her friends, just an offhand comment, about how pretty she was and they tried to give her to me.”

I was staring at her, “They what?”

“Coffin and all!” Ymir was mirroring my appalled expression. “Said I should take her!”

“Did you?” I asked incredulously, fully enveloped in this story. 

“Hell no!” Ymir shook her head violently, “I’m desperate but I ain't that desperate! I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and never looked back.” 

I think something like that would have put me off of princess hunting forever, but apparently Ymir had more of a stomach for it than me because she jumped straight into the next story. 

“The next princess I found, well, more than one actually.” She stared wistfully up at the trees overhead, “Twelve gorgeous, perfect princesses.” She then turned her gaze to me. “Jean, if I only teach you one thing, please remember to never trust a dancer.” 

I expected her to expand on that point, but she only shook her head and started in on another story. “After that was a tower, kinda like yours actually, only with more kissing. That princess could only be woken up with true love’s kiss which was kind of weird but I was down 13 princesses at that point so I was gonna go for it.”

“Did it not work?” I asked.

Ymir laughed, “Oh, it worked. Planted it on her and she woke right up.” 

“So why...?” 

“She took one look at me and said she would ‘wait for her _prince_ thank-you-very-much.’ I told her ‘Bitch, it’s true love!’ but hell if she was gonna listen to me.” Ymir was scowling and I couldn’t help but laugh a little at her bitter expression. 

“So who else?” I asked when she didn’t snap out of her stewing. 

She thought for a moment. “Oh! After that was the mermaid.” She looked over at me with her lopsided grin. “She was _hot_ and I mean super hot. Totally into me too.” 

“So what happened?” 

She pursed her lips, “Well see, I kinda started to get mixed signals.” I looked at her questioningly. “Ok, so she kind of tried to drown me, but we probably could have moved passed it if she hadn’t disappeared afterward!” 

I was definitely laughing then, imagining this take-no-shit woman trying to reconcile with a murderous fish. 

She was scowling at me. “Oh, and I’m sure you would have done so much better.” 

“That’s what we’re here to find out, isn’t it?” I grinned at her, actually enjoying the prospect of the competition for the first time. 

“Just don’t come crying to me for help if we find a tower with a dragon.” She was grinning back at me, almost evilly. “If there’s a guarding beast, monster or spirit it’s every man and woman for themselves. 

I swallowed hard. Dragon. Right. Somehow I didn’t think my good looks and charm had prepared me for that one. “So, um, how likely is that?” I asked her, trying not to seem terrified by the prospect. 

She saw right through me and laughed at my fear. “Don’t worry Jean, they’re usually only _little_ dragons.” 

I glared at her. 

“I mean, I’ve only come across one and it was maybe, say, three hundred tons?” She said it like a question as if she were trying to recall, but I could see the glint in her eyes. 

I really had no basis to compare that weight to, but I assumed it meant a very, very big dragon. “Oh, you didn’t tell that story.” I tried to stay cool and turn the tables back on her, “How come you didn’t get that princess?” She scowled instantly at the question.

“I know what you’re trying to imply,” she shot back. “But I did defeat that dragon.” 

“Then why don’t you have anything to show for it?” I raised my eyebrows at her, challenging her to defend her lack of current partner. 

She sighed, “Ok so there was this princess.” I nodded at her to continue. “She was this gorgeous red head, yeah? Well, all the stories said that she was the princess of the kingdom next door. While the king had been trying to make arrangements for her to marry, she was kidnapped by this dragon and locked in a tower. Her dad had promised her hand in marriage to anyone who could rescue her and of course I wanted to help her out. Purely in a good samaritan kind of way.” 

“Of course,” I agreed. 

“So I trek out to this tower and here’s the biggest dragon I could ever imagine. Huge and black and terrifying. But I’ve got a sword and a couple bottled enchantments and I take it down easily.” 

I give her a side-eye that tells her I know she’s lying or at least embellishing but she shrugs it off. 

“I take it down _easily_ and while it’s unconscious I start climbing this tower, which had stairs by the way.” She shot me a look that told me she held me personally responsible for her 600 foot climb. “And I’m barely a quarter of the way up when this gorgeous princess comes running down. But instead of thanking me, she just runs past me!” She shook her head at the memory. “I follow her and she’s down there checking to see if I hurt the dragon!” 

“Was the dragon ok?” I asked. 

She gave me a stink eye. “Yeah, the dragon was fine. But she runs down to check on him and it turns out it was her weredragon boyfriend! He shifted back and they told me the whole story, but apparently her dad wouldn’t let her marry him, so they staged the entire thing to elope.” 

“You have the absolute worst luck.” I said with a grin.

I had meant it as a joke, but Ymir’s looked forward again and her eyebrows snapped down into an angry scowl. 

“Says the guy with no memory, no age and no brain of his own,” she spat at me. 

I was taken aback by her sudden change in mood. Somehow this was different from earlier when she had called me stupid. This time I shut up instantly, not knowing whether to snap back because her words actually hurt or to apologize because it sounded like I had hurt her, even though I had know idea what I had said wrong. 

I stayed silent not because I thought it would ease the tension, but because I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make it worse. Ymir didn’t offer up any further conversation either, so I just watched her out of the corner of my eye as we walked in silence. Eventually her eyebrows started to tilt back into their normal expression and the tension in her face started to release. She still didn’t say anything but the longer we walked, the less it felt like she was rethinking her decision to bring me along. 

With as brash and straight forward as she had been in the few hours I had known her, I had thought that she wouldn’t be the kind of person to be bothered by offhand comments like that. I was remembering again that I didn’t know Ymir and no matter how much she treated me like she knew everything about me, I couldn’t return the favor. Nothing I had assumed about her fit with the anger she gave me when I laughed about her bad luck. Maybe I was just bad at reading people. I don’t think I’ve ever had any experience with that. 

I startled when she finally did speak.

“We’re gonna get to town soon.” She still wasn’t looking at me, but she also didn’t seem angry anymore. “We’ll stop there for the night and scope out any rumors that might be floating around. If we don’t hear anything we’ll have to head up to Sina, but that’s a trip I’d rather not make.”

She didn’t say why and I didn’t think now was the right time to ask so I just nodded.

It wasn’t long before the trees started to thin and the faint trail we had been traveling on intersected into a much larger and more trafficked dirt road. I followed Ymir as she took the road to the right and headed toward the group of structures it led towards.

As we walked past the first set of houses and started to see people bustling in and out of streets and homes, it occurred to me that Ymir was the only person I could ever remember meeting. Having suddenly been presented with people running to and fro of all different shapes and sizes, I felt a bit overwhelmed by how little experience I had with anything at all. 

An old woman walked past us going the other direction and as she passed, she smiled at me, nodding her head in a friendly gesture. I just stared at her until she had walked past us, then it finally occurred to me to repeat the gesture back at her. She was already long gone though, so instead I took the opportunity to smile and nod at the next person to walk past us, a man this time. 

I was expecting the man to repeat the gesture like I should have done in the first place, but instead he just scowled at me under his bushy, lowered eyebrows. After he was gone I decided maybe it was best to leave the social interactions to Ymir. She seemed to know more about people then I did, even if she wasn’t the friendliest person I had ever met. Or maybe she was. I didn’t remember. 

Ymir led us down side streets and through the tightly packed squares until we finally arrived under a series of giant canopies filled to the brim with people moving in all different directions. 

The bazaar was just a giant collection of tables, blankets and milk-crates piled high with bits and bobs that looked to be predominantly worthless. Still, the number of objects I had never seen or even imagined before kept pulling me into every seller’s merchandise till Ymir finally grabbed me by the collar.

“Don’t let these people start talking to you.” She advised me as she half dragged me toward the far end of the rows. “They could sell you your own shoelaces for an Aureus.”

I didn’t know what an Aureus was, and considered pointing out that my boots didn’t have shoelaces, but instead settled for, “I don’t even have any money.”

“I know.” She scoffed, “all the more reason we’re not stopping. Like hell I’m buying you anything.”

Despite her declaration to the contrary, she did stop in front of a booth a moment later, eyeing the wares up and down. 

It was another mix of odds and ends that didn’t seem to fit together but as I kept looking them over I started noticing a common theme. The table was scattered with maps, a few waterskins, two rusty compasses, some old journals and several other miscellaneous trinkets. As I was eyeing the items, the short haired man behind the table smiled at Ymir. 

“Looking for anything in particular?” he asked in a friendly tone, obviously ready to sell her anything she needed and probably some things she didn’t. 

Ymir mused for a long minute before saying, “No, just looking.” 

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye because she had obviously not been interested in window shopping just moments before, but she just picked up one of the maps and started looking it over with a careful eye. 

I reached for one of the journals, interested in the pattern the seemed to carry onto the back cover, when the table jolted and a loud whine emerged from underneath. A moment later, a woman popped out from under the table, one hand full of maps and the other rubbing the top of her head. When she caught sight of me and Ymir, she grinned widely. 

“Welcome!” she said just a bit too enthusiastically and started arranging the maps from her hand into the bare spots on the table. 

The man turned his attention back to Ymir who had only glanced up momentarily when the vendor woman had emerged. 

“Are you from out of town?” He sounded genuinely interested, but his voice had a pre-rehearsed air to it. 

Ymir nodded, “Yep, just passing through.” 

“Business or pleasure?” The woman had moved to stand beside her shorter partner and joined in on the questioning. 

“Hmm...” Ymir considered for a moment. “Just going where the wind takes us I guess.” 

There was some smiling and nodding from the sellers, as if this was what they were hoping to hear before the man spoke up again. 

“We get a lot of your type of people through here.” 

The woman nodded her agreement, her ponytail bouncing up and down. “The last guy who stopped by here had just come back from looking for a princess!” 

My ears perked up a bit at the new bit of information, but Ymir seemed unfazed. 

The woman continued, “Said there was a tower out east of here, but he never made it because of the labyrinth.” 

“Oh yeah,” The man took over, “honestly, I’m surprised he even made it back in one piece, walking unprepared into a labyrinth like that.”

Suddenly this particular princess was sounded less promising. 

“That sounds like a story.” Ymir finally looked up from the maps toward the vendors. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a location on that tower.” 

The man shook his head sadly, “Unfortunately he had gotten too lost to get any reliable details out of him.” 

“Shame.” Was Ymir’s only comment. 

Suddenly the woman smacked her partner’s shoulder, “There was that other guy though, you remember?” 

The man puzzled for a moment before his eye lit up with recognition. “Oh, the one from last Autumn? Yeah, he had a story!” 

“And what story was that?” Ymir asked casually. 

The woman leaned closer across the table. “He had made it all the way out to a tower west of Sina.” She said, in an almost confidential tone, “Even made it close enough to see the princess.” 

“Said she had hair as golden as the morning sun,” The man leaned over the join her. “And eyes that shined like gems in the night.” 

I wasn’t sure that gems did much shining at night but I didn’t mention it. 

“She was as fair as a full moon,” the woman added, “and was promised to marry the first person who scaled her tower to rescue her.” 

Ymir nodded absently as they spun their story but I felt a bit entranced.

“Only this guy never made it up to the tower.” The man continued. “So I’ll bet she’s still there, waiting for someone to rescue her.”

Ymir finally looked interested, “Sounds like a quite a trip.” she commented. “I doubt I’ve got the supplies or coin to make it that far west though.” 

The woman looked at the man before elbowing him in the side in a meaningful way. He glanced at her for a moment before sighing and rubbing the back of his head.

“My wife is really partial to adventurers like yourselves,” he said, looking left and right and leaning forward further. “So if I don’t cut you a deal on some stuff she’ll have my head.” 

Ymir smiled, “Oh, that would be really helpful!” 

The pleasantness in her voice was uncharacteristic for the person she’d been all morning, and it occurred to me that she might have been trying to take advantage of this couple. Scowling at the thought, I watched her exchange some coins out of her bag for some maps and one of the rusty compasses. After they had completed their transactions, the woman thanked Ymir warmly and invited her to stop by if she was ever in town again. Ymir nodded and turned to leave when the man spoke up again. 

“Oh, there was one more thing!” 

Ymir turned back, her eyebrows raising questioningly.

“The man who visited the tower said there was a guardian.” the man said. “Or possibly just a guarding spell.”

“Oh yeah!” The woman looked like she was just remembering. “He was a little too freaked out to explain clearly, but it’s definitely guarded by something really powerful.” She was smiling cheerfully while she said it. “So be careful, ok?”

Ymir grunted a response and turned to leave. As I jogged after her I heard her mutter, “Fan-fucking-tastic.”


	3. Let's Talk About Fruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so I know it's been 85 years since I updated but... have an update! I'm not super active in the JM/snk fandom anymore, but I couldn't let this story die because I really do love it. As always, you can find me on twitter (@ClosetThera) and I always love hearing feedback.

As soon as we were outside the reach of the bazaar’s loud roar I could hear Ymir’s mutterings of “Mercury’s bitches” and “bloody con artists.”

I gave her an incredulous look.

“Weren’t you the one trying to rip them off?” I asked, a little irritated. 

She turned towards me and let out a ridiculous burst of laughter. “Are you kidding me?” She asked. “Those guys were taking us on a trip from the very start.”

“They gave you a deal on the stuff though.” I furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

“Kid, they charged me normal prices, if not more.” She was still laughing a bit. 

“But they said-” 

“I know what they _said_.” She was starting to look irritated. “Everyone says that stuff. That’s how they get people to buy their junk at all. The whole reason they even told us any of that stuff was to get us to buy from them.” 

I opened my mouth to speak again but she didn’t break her interrupting streak. 

“And I bought their stupid maps because if I didn’t they wouldn’t tell me where the tower was.” She continued, “But of course they didn’t let me know that I’d need extra coin for weapons and spells for whatever in Bellona’s name the guardian is.” 

“Can’t we just find a different princess?” I asked, still not too happy about the idea of there being a powerful guardian of a mystery variety. 

“Not a chance,” Ymir sighed. “For one, this one is totally my type.” I gave her a look but she ignored it. “And secondly, if we don’t take this lead we have to head toward Sina.” 

“What the hell is wrong with Sina?” I finally asked. I wasn’t ready to be eaten by some monster just because Ymir didn’t want to make an extra pit stop. 

She just sighed and dug her hands deeper into her pockets, not answering. After a minute she looked over at me and found me still watching her. 

“I’m sort of a wanted fugitive” She finally offered and I gawked. 

“What did you do?” I asked and she sighed again.

“Well, I teamed up with this guy a while back.” she said, looking forward again, “We had this agreement to go after a princess whose dad was offering a really decent reward and her hand in marriage for her safe return. This guy, Boris, he wanted the reward and I wanted the marriage so we figured we’d make a pretty good team.”

I realized that I had no idea where we were walking to, but I wanted to hear Ymir’s story too much to interrupt with unrelated questions. 

“We were cutting through Sina to get some supplies and catch any news when we had a little run-in with some asshole.” She said with a note of finality. 

I just stared at her for a moment before realizing she thought she had told the whole story. 

“You had a run-in with an asshole?” I asked, hoping she would elaborate. 

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Ymir muttered. “Boris was blowing everything out of proportion.” 

“Ok?” I was so confused. 

“He was all like ‘Ymir, you can’t punch the crown prince in the face!’ and I was all ‘I can if he’s being a whiny bitch!’ and then they tried to arrest me and I had to flee the kingdom.” She had pulled her hands out of her pockets and was using them expressively now. 

“You threatened the prince?” I asked, officially deciding that she was probably insane.

“Nah, I actually punched him. Guy’s a dick.”

Ok, she was definitely insane. 

“Oh.. Ok then.” I finally said, “Let’s not go to Sina then.” 

Ymir grinned at me and let out a laugh. 

After a few moments I asked, “What ever happened to Boris?”

She looked surprised for a minute. 

“Umm... You know, I don’t actually know.” She mused. “He probably got arrested.” 

I was having even further suspicions that being this woman’s traveling companion would not end well. 

Just as I was considering telling Ymir that I had forgotten something in my tower, had to go get it and might never come back, she turned to walk into an inn.

I followed her as she walked up to the counter and ordered a room from the short-haired woman who worked there. After a short exchange of words and coins, Ymir gestured for me to follow her up the stairs that led off of the lobby. After a short climb, we arrived in a small hallway and entered an even smaller room. There were two beds mounted on either wall of the tiny space and only a two-foot wide path between them. I guess people who stayed here traveled light because there was no room for extra belongings aside from the small space below each bed. 

Ymir dropped straight onto one of the beds and pulled out the maps she had bought from the vendors, spreading them out across the thin blankets. After a moment she frowned and switched around their positions on the bed until they seemed to make sense again, then traced her finger along invisible routes. 

I sat down on the other bed, placing my bag next to me, and wondered if it would kill this woman to learn some communication skills. I had started to get pretty hungry since my last meal which had been long before we left the tower, and while I wasn’t sure interrupting Ymir’s concentration was a great plan, I did want to know whether we were planning on eating anytime soon. 

When she didn’t break her concentration for several minutes, I spoke up hesitantly. 

“So... what are you doing?” 

She looked up as if she had only just then remembered my existence.

“Checking to make sure we can actually get to the tower out west,” she told me. “Most of the road that way will take us straight through Sina.” 

“Oh.”

She had barely spared me a glance when she became absorbed in her work again. 

I started idly picking at the hem of my shirt and glancing around the small room for some sort of answer that would stave off my boredom and hunger. It didn’t take long before my eyes fell on my bag and I remembered the food I had tucked away inside of it.

I grabbed the bag and rummaged through, carefully placing the shirt-wrapped book onto the bed, before I found an apple I had packed. Having sufficiently applauded myself for my forethought to bring a snack at all, I grabbed it out of my bag. And much to my disappointment, watched it crumble to dust in my hand. 

I hated it when that happened. 

There was nothing I could do about it now though, so I brushed the gray dust off of my hands and proceeded to try and get the worst of it off of my trousers and the bed. 

It was a moment later when I finally looked up and realized Ymir was staring at me. 

“What in the holy hell of Ceres was that?” Ymir looked like she had just seen a ghost. I was very confused again. 

“An apple?” I replied, not quite sure what she was getting at.

She stared at me like I had grown another head. 

“It fucking _disintegrated_.”

“Oh,” I nodded, “Yeah, it must have been going bad.” 

“Jean,” she was looking at me like I was stupid again, “Fruits rots when it goes bad.”

“I know, that’s what- “

“It does not fucking explode.” 

It was my turn to stare at her. “It didn’t explode, it just rotted.” 

“Into a layer of dust.” She was staring at my incredulously

“Yes!” 

Obviously this woman had never encountered fruit before. 

“I know you haven’t gotten out much,” Ymir started, “but that is not how fruit rots.” 

I crossed my arms over my chest. 

“I’ve been eating fruit for the past three years and it has always done that when it goes bad.” Honestly, the fact that she was denying the biological cycle of apples after seeing it with her own eyes was a bit ridiculous. 

She was still staring at me until something changed in her expression. 

“Jean, where did you get that apple?” 

“At the tower,” I answered simply. Where else would I have gotten it? 

“No, before that.” She had fully turned toward me and away from her maps. 

Before the tower? There was no before the tower. 

“What do you mean?” I asked her, sincerely hoping she would start making sense again. 

She leaned forward, arm braced on her knees, and looked straight at me. 

“You were in that tower for three years, minimum.” I nodded. “So how is it you’re even still alive?” 

I cocked my head at her, “What-”

“Where did you even _get_ food?” 

“From the cupboard...?” Where else did people get food? 

“You realize that’s not normal, right?” 

It was my turn to stare. “What do you mean?” 

“You’re supposed to buy food.” Ymir tugged out her ponytail and started running her fingers through her hair, “Or grow it, or hunt it.”

“That seems like a lot of work,” I told her simply, “Why would you do that when you can just have enchanted cupboards?”

Ymir froze where she had been gathering her hair back up. 

“It was an enchantment?” She breathed, not taking her eyes off of me. 

“Well yeah,” I nodded again, “How else- Wait, what’s wrong with that?” 

It took a moment before Ymir moved again and fastened her ponytail back behind her head. It was another moment before she answered. 

“There are rules to Magic, Jean.” She finally said, “An exploding-fruit-dispensing cupboard breaks most of them.” 

“Which means...?” 

“Which means that it was cast not only by a magical being,” Ymir’s eyebrows were furrowing then, “But by a being who has separated themselves from the laws of magic. I’ve... never found that to be a good thing.” 

“Oh.” My hands were starting to feel heavier under the gray remains of the apple that were still stuck to them. 

Ymir watched me for a long moment before she turned back to her maps. It was only a moment before she sighed and turned back to me. 

“Do you wanna head downstairs and get something to eat?” 

I didn’t hesitate before I nodded an affirmative and the corner of her mouth twitched up at my enthusiasm. 

“Let’s go kid.” 

I tucked my book back into my bag and slid it under the bed for safe keeping before I jumped up to follow Ymir downstairs. She turned to look at me and rolled her eyes. 

“Don’t leave that here, idiot.” 

I was sure my bag would be perfectly safe in the room, but I didn’t argue with Ymir. Instead I just slid my bag onto my back and followed her out the door. 

The dining area downstairs was small but cozy, with five small tables surrounded by more chairs then really fit around them. Apparently the dinner rush was already well underway when we arrived because almost every chair was taken already, with people sitting at all of the tables. 

Ymir did a quick scan of the people sitting at the tables before apparently making a choice and striding off to one of the lesser occupied tables. 

There was only a single woman sitting at the table we approached and Ymir didn’t ask permission before sitting across from her and greeting her with, “Hey gorgeous.” 

She was, in fact, gorgeous and even when her eyebrows were furrowed in annoyance as she glanced up at Ymir, she looked absolutely stunning. Her annoyed look gave way to a small smile as she evaluated Ymir and she closed the small book she had been reading a moment ago. 

Ymir spoke again as I moved to sit next to her. 

“Did you get that work done around here?” She asked, gesturing toward a gilded dagger strung around the woman’s waist. 

The woman nodded. “Near here, yes.” She said, “It was done by a smith at the next town west of Sina.” 

“Do they do larger items?” Ymir inquired. 

“I think I can guarantee they’ll have anything you’re looking for.” The woman smiled again as she said it, a beautiful and kind smile. “It won’t be cheap though.” 

Ymir sighed but looked resigned to the fate of losing all her funds on this endeavor.

“Which road would you recommend taking out of here?” Ymir asked. 

The woman looked from Ymir to me for the first time, and then back to Ymir. 

“If you head northwest out of town, you can bypass Sina entirely.” She told Ymir, glancing back at me from the corner of her eye. 

“That’s the road that passes through the woods, yeah?” Ymir sighed, “I doubt we can take that one without weapons.” 

“You two won’t have any trouble.” The woman spoke with confidence and gave Ymir another sweet smile.

Ymir gave her a steady look, evaluating that statement. Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, the woman stood and gathered her book to leave.

“It was wonderful meeting you.” She told Ymir and turned to leave. 

She turned back a moment later as if she had just remembered something but this time she fixed her gaze on me. 

“And Jean, make sure you steer clear of Sina.” was all she said before she turned away and walked out of the room. 

It didn’t take long for Ymir to start in on the questions. 

“Friend of yours?” She raised an eyebrow and set her gaze on me. 

“No,” I replied, more confused than ever, “I mean, I don’t think so.”

She didn’t stop looking at me and I felt myself squirming under her glare. 

Finally she sighed and raised her hand to flag down one of the waitresses. 

“I don’t think I’m ever gonna stop having questions about you kid.” She shook her her slowly. “I’m just worried that you don’t have more about yourself.” 

I hadn’t really thought about that before. I supposed I should wonder more about my past and why I couldn’t remember it. I had been in my tower for at least three years and had never really been curious about anything at all. Why was that? 

It was because I trusted the book, I told myself. Maybe that was because I believed what was written there or maybe it was just because trying to remember anything before the last three years gave me a headache. Right now I was verging on a full migraine. 

There was no point in wondering anyway. My past wasn’t important. After all, if it was important, I would remember. 

We ordered our food and ate in silence after that. Ymir was obviously deep in thought and alcohol and I didn’t feel like disturbing her, but I wished that I had something to distract my thoughts. I eventually resigned myself to counting the wood paneling on the wall in order to keep thoughts of my past, and the headaches that went with them, at bay. 

When Ymir had drained her final beer, we went back upstairs and after some brief consultation with her maps, Ymir turned to me.

“I’m not sold on the woods, but I think it’s still a better bet than Sina.” She told me, tracing a road across her maps. “We’ll head out in the morning, so get some sleep.”

With that, she shoved her maps into her bag, stuck in under her head, and rolled over. It was less than three minutes before I could hear her snoring. 

By the dim window light, I slipped the book out of my bag and unwrapped it slowly, tracing the pattern on the cover by memory. I opened it softly and read the first page. 

I knew the beginning of the book by heart, but somehow reading it was comforting. The headaches always went away when I read it. I flipped slowly through the familiar letters, narratives and pictures until I reached the back of the book. There were three words on the last page written in fresh ink, still slightly tacky to the touch. 

_Seventeen years old_


End file.
